Love hurts
by Flower Of The Slum
Summary: Claire's working at a dead end job just after Jill's death and Chris has also left to go to Africa. A special someone turns up and turns her life upside down again, but in a good way ;P - Leon x Claire -
1. Chapter 1

**Love Hurts.**

Claire walked over to a nearby table. She assumed it was a man when she walked closer; he was hid behind a newspaper, she could just see the top of his head and his hair was a strong dark wood brown colour. While he read, he sipped on a cup of coffee, which personally Claire thought tasted like shit from her work and she would rather die than drink it again. She'd made a mental note to herself about these types of men, news reading, coffee drinking, especially in the morning, they normally ran a business or worked for one. Their job was normally that stressful they went through about fifty lots of coffee within an hour. They also ordered the most disgusting fried breakfast from the cafe she worked in. She felt ill just thinking about how it was cooked and what crap would be added.

As much as she didn't look it, Claire had once been "The" Claire Redfield, who fought off zombies and helped in some way bring down a massive organisation. She was a hot blooded female, up for any type of adventure, fiery just like her chestnut red coloured hair.

Now she worked in a dead end job which made her smell like the zombies she had once killed at the end of every shift.

"Excuse me Sir; what would you like to order?" She asked politely. Tugging her short white work uniform down with her spare hand, with the other she flipped a note book open. When she had finished pulling her dress out straight she then took a pen out what was tucked behind her ear. Normally the customer would murmur quietly when ordering while they tried to multitask and read the newspaper.

But what she never expected to happen, happened right in front of her tired baby blue eyes.

"Claire Redfield? Didn't think I'd see you in a place like this!?" The man chuckled loudly from behind the paper. It took several moments for Claire to realise that this person was. She was in too much shock and surprise that it seemed to take longer for the person's name to register in her head. The gruffness of his voice which still sent chills down her spine, the voice she wished would talk to her for hours, the voice was so memorable to her.

The man then slowly pulled the paper away from his face to flash that perfect white smile to her. His eyes stung through her skin and right into her soul, them perfect lapis lazuli blue eyes. His haircut was exactly the same, longer at the front then the back, which caused it to hang in front of his eyes, how she wished she could comb her fingers through it. His appearance had never changed since she had known him, so it wasn't as if she could pretend she didn't recognize him.

She was utterly humiliated, here she was working the most shittest job in the world, and there was he the U.S Government stud. What had she done to deserve this? The last time she saw him was around a year ago just after the airport accident, when Leon went away in a flashy helicopter all mission impossible style, again humiliating Claire. Especially in front of that women.... what was her name again?

"Hi..." She spat out, she couldn't manage to say anything else, her face flushed red and she immediately tried to hide it with the note pad hoping he wouldn't notice.

"So...What are you ordering?" She asked again, this time trying not to sob with the embarrassment.

"Mmm... I dunno. What would you recommend?" He simply replied, still smiling perfectly as if this was just a normal occurrence that happens everyday.

"To be honest, nothing. This place makes everything taste like shit." Claire said in a matter of fact tone, without realising what she was saying. Most guys would just hit on her, like she was some brainless twerp with boobs, then eat and leave. They never actually tried to engage in a normal conversation, but Leon wasn't just a "normal" man. She sighed to herself, why did he have to be here right now?

"Ah! And here I thought you'd of changed? I guess you proved me wrong..." He laughed hard, laying his paper flat on the table. "So no steak or anything like that?"

"Well, if you want steak that looks like a cows ate it, then brought it back up and then stood on it a thousand times. Yeah, there's steak alright..." She giggled sarcastically. She just wished he would leave.

"Well, to me that sounds nice. I'll have that." He grinned again, making Claire feel weak at her knees because of his looks and because of her embarrassing predicament.

"Ok, then I'll go order that." She smiled; tucking a loose hair behind her ear then scribbled the order down quickly. She then slowly tried to walk away from the table without tripping or flopping to the ground; she handed the note to another woman behind the till and sat down on the nearest seat near the till. Her back towards Leon, huffing and wheezing trying to breath and put him out of her mind.

Just as she calmed down she heard one of her favourite songs, it had just clicked on the radio, "I miss you" by Basshunter. How ironic, she thought while she rolled her eyes.

"Hey Claire." Leon called out; he was walking towards her when she turned around to look at him. God he had doubled in width since the last time she seen him, how she wished to rip that black t-shirt off him now... No she mustn't think like that..

"You wanna cancel or something?" She quickly spat out, trying to remove any dirty thoughts coming to her head.

"No, no, nothing like that. Thought maybe we could have a catch up session?" He smiled again, making Claire's heart explode in her chest. Just go away her head thought when she stared at him back.

"Well, I'm not due my break for a while. Maybe another time..." She sighed and turned back around trying to pick up the song and drain out his presence. How the hell could she speak to him in this state of mind? She knew she'd land herself in it and say something rude...

"Can't you take it early?"

"No." She replied hastily.

"Well I'm waiting for a mmm.. A friend. She might not be here for a while..." He answered back, now fidgeting with the back of his hair. A girl mmm? Claire thought to herself while being interrupted.

"Claire you can take your break now if you want!" The large lady behind the till waved to her, smiling as if she had just done her a favour. Claire made a mental note to herself to kill Margret later.

"OK!" Why do I bother? She thought to herself as she followed Leon to the table he was sitting at. There was only room for two which meant she had to sit opposite him, which made it that tiny bit worse. She would have no choice but to stare into his eyes and watch his facial expressions while they spoke. Just brilliant, she normally dreamt about this but in her fantasy it wasn't in a greasy cafe and she didn't work there either.

"So when's your friend coming?" Claire piped up straight away, looking out at the window what was at the side of them.

"I'm not sure, she just asked me to meet me here."

"Well that's strange."

"Yeah...I suppose." He grinned and Claire couldn't help but stare. Leon reminded Claire of one of them Calvin Klein type models, perfect body with rock hard abs, alot taller than her, broader then her, perfect shiny hair, perfect tanned skin... A real man. A man she knew in reality would always be out of her grasp.

The conversation went dead for a little while, which helped Claire with her nerves. She just stared out at the window and occasionally taking cheeky little looks at the corner of eye to stare at him, up and down.

"Hey Angela!" Leon called over Claire's shoulder.

"Leon!" Claire quickly turned around to see who his "friend" was; she was also perfect in every way. Her hair was a mousy blonde colour that shined perfectly with the sun beaming down on her lush skin tone, the way she walked would hypnotize anyone looking, her dress sense was womanly and very feminine, her eyes were also a perfect shade of green, so magical. Claire's mouth opened gobsmacked, how on Earth did God produce something so wonderful? She defiantly looked more beautiful than the last time Claire had seen her.

"Claire this is Angela, you two do remember each other right?" Leon said politely, Claire's eyes had followed Angela all the way from walking behind her, to slouching over Leon's shoulder, smiling and leaning so close to him.

"Hello Claire." She replied, her voice was also perfect. It sounded as if every word she said was perfect singing notes, the type of voice which birds would be attracted too. Claire just wished them birds where killer crows from Raccoon City.


	2. Chapter 2

"Damnit!" Claire shouted as she banged her apartment door shut. How dare him! She couldn't believe that Leon would actually do that?! Show up at her work, make her serve him and then bring his girlfriend too! She couldn't get over how embarrassed she felt, how low, how ugly she was feeling compared to Angela. Claire was not feeling the best at the moment as it was, her brother Chris hadn't even had time to grieve over Jill's death and there he was flying over to Africa already. He didn't even take into consideration how Claire was feeling; Jill was also a very important person in Claire's life. The sister she never had and a role model and he pissed off to Africa the first chance he got. Claire needed her big brother to hug and reassure her so she could try and think more clearly, but as normal he goes away, leaving her again alone. She had also just got over Steve dying in her arms and that was alone also, Chris didn't give a damn about that, Jill was the only one that tried to help her see it wasn't Claire's fault. Now Jill was gone too, and then, there comes in mister big shot, with a life, money and a perfect girlfriend. Claire had nothing; she was lost, abandoned with no one to comfort her or to love her...

She kicked her shoes off in a rage and slammed her bedroom door shut, jumping onto her double bed. The same thoughts where running around her busy mind over and over again, she was always left, always! Claire finally began to cry into the pillows, letting her emotions dwell over. She hardly cried and she dared to cry in front of anyone else, that was something she'd never even think of doing. Chris would laugh at her no doubt and make her feel more like shit. She seemed to be just dealing a tiny bit at a time over the death of Steven, then Jill died, then Chris left her again as if that was anything knew and now Leon too? Claire now began to wail into her pillow and her sobbing was greatly increased.

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"Leon you coming now?" Angela whispered loud enough for Claire to hear.  
"Yeah, sure sweetie." Leon replied politely. Sweetie? I thought they were just friends, Claire screamed to herself; this was too much for today. Angela moved further down the aisle so Leon could get out of his seat, his smile also seemed to disappear while doing so.

Claire couldn't handle it anymore, this was way too much for one day.  
"I have to go!" She cracked while jumping out of her chair. Claire could feel the tears brimming to her eyes, she couldn't cry here, not in public. Margret smiled at her while Claire ran in the back; she understood how hard it was for her. Claire had made up a bunch of lies saying her brother was in the army and his girlfriend had recently died there, it seemed a more believable story then saying they were trying to stop Umbrella creating more viruses that could harm people and turn another town into zombies. It was the nearest story that was believable and almost true.

What a fool? Claire sobbed to herself in the toilets. What was Leon gonna think of her now? Running off when they finally had time to catch up... Maybe he was one of the only people to actually understand how she was feeling and she blew him off...

"Claire you can take the rest of the day off..." Came a voice followed by silent knock at the door.  
"Thanks..." Claire softly replied back, she needed to control her feelings until she got home, she knew Leon would still be there and she couldn't cry, not now. She took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror while she stood up. Her eyes were bright red and looked sore, for the past week all she had been doing was crying when she got home. Her bags also where dark black colour, she normally cried herself to sleep. She then laughed at herself in the mirror, what a stupid little girl? As if she had time to even have a normal life, if only she took her friends advice that night and not looked for Chris... maybe she could of... She shook her head then began to wet her face to make it more convincing that she hadn't been crying. When she thought she looked better than before she made her way back to the cafe. Claire looked around but there was no sign of Leon or Angela, a good job too.

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Her phone began to vibrate in her bag, she could hear it but she didn't have the energy to go find her bag and answer it. It was probably just work or a wrong number. Claire began to try and drown the noise of the phone out; she couldn't be bothered right now. Still the phone never seemed to stop and she finally let a sigh of defeat out as she went to find her bag. When she pulled her phone out and looked at the name who was calling her, she began to grit her teeth in aggravation. Why the hell was he ringing her? Her tears stopped and she began to finally calm down slowly.

"Hello?" Claire asked as if she didn't know who was ringing her.  
"You alright?" That gruff voice questioned, causing her spine to collapse again.  
"Been better..." She decided to keep it short and sweet, best way to cover up how you where feeling really.  
"Well I'm about to knock on your door..." He laughed then hung up on her. How Leon annoyed her, he knew exactly what buttons to press with her on more than one level.

She heard the knock then looked at what she was wearing.  
"SHIT!" Claire screamed silently to herself, she was still in her dirty, greasy work clothes and she knew her mascara would be running down her face. She quickly began to pull drawers out and look for her makeup remover and rubbed her face while multi tasking and pulling out clothes from her cupboard. When she had more suitable clothes to put on Claire shouted towards her apartment door. "One second!" She quickly pulled on a white vest top which she was hoping was clean and a pair of frayed jean shorts. Claire then carried her socks while she opened the door to see them hypnotising blue eyes staring right at her, causing her to not remember what she was doing.


	3. Chapter 3

"Thought you could use a friend?" He smiled warmly, causing her heart to melt and all her fears seemed to disappear. She was about to agree with him, feeling hypnotized by him but she remembered what he had just done to her, humiliated her. One of the worst things possible he could have done.  
"I suppose." Claire replied back sitting down on her sofa, which Leon took as an invite in. He chuckled and shut the door behind him; Claire heard a ruffle of a bag while he did this... What could he of brought with him? She then began to stare at him again, she wished she never because once again she was took away to a dream land. The pain she felt seemed to of numbed and she felt as if she could smile without feeling guiltily.

Leon noticed Claire looking his way and he decided to turn and stare back at her with such sincerity. His eyes seemed to have such warmth in them, making his cute boyish looks appear on the surface more. It made Claire feel like she was in high school again, crushing on the big football star, knowing he'd always be there for her as a friend but not for the way she wanted him to be. She never had much luck. He followed her eyes as she began to blush when he stared back, Claire began to stare out the apartment window trying to block her emotions off from him, but he knew her to well.  
"I'm that boring?" Leon chuckled again, walking over to sofa and plonking his behind on it right next to her. "I brought some beer, thought you could use some."  
"You think that will solve anything?" She bit back; he was such a man underneath it all. Just because alcohol numbed his pain, didn't mean it would for her.  
"Claire talk to me? I can't help you otherwise." He sighed.  
"As if you'd ever be able to understand what I'm going through!" She knew he was working his way through to her, it was what he did. She could never hide from him. He had that effect on her, he was the only person ever to be like that to her.  
"I know when Jill died it must have been hard..." He said sympathetic, "but if you don't let other people in, how can anyone help you?" She knew what he was saying was right, but that still didn't make her feel any better. Jill was still gone, she'd never see her again, never... Same as Steve and maybe her brother.  
"You know what Chris is like. He couldn't turn a chance down like tha-"  
"Leon! Just don't, you don't know how reckless he can be when he isn't thinking straight. Jill's death will push him over that edge, he's probably dead now and he wouldn't even think of me!" She shouted back now standing up from the sofa. She knew this would be a bad idea, Leon should have never came. She could feel her tears slowly forming and she couldn't control it this time.  
"Claire its fine to cry let you feelings out. You shouldn't deal with this yourself." And with them words Leon also got up from the sofa and began to tenderly put his arms around Claire's shoulders.  
"But..."  
"No buts Claire, no one has had to deal with as much as you have. Now just let it go, cry and scream as much as you want. I'm not leaving." He cuddled her tighter in his embrace; he was so warm so supportive. Her rock. Her tears slowly began to roll down her cheeks, causing her to splutter and sobbed loudly into his torso. Leon rubbed her back gently as she did so, rocking her backwards and forwards like a fragile child. Then she pushed him so hard with her hands, he lost his balance then regained it again.  
"Claire what's wrong?" He was completely surprised by her last action.  
"I can hardly forgive you for what you've done! You come to my work with that bitch and expect me to be happy! It was the last thing I needed today!"  
"Claire she's my girlfriend I can hardly help it..." His smiled now faded, he couldn't make it sound any better as much as he tried to piece it in his head.  
"Didn't you think not coming at all, would have been better?" She hissed now, cupping her own face into her hands, hiding her tears.  
"Claire! Get a hold of yourself!"  
"No Leon! You get a hold of yourself; you knew I had feelings for you..." Claire realised what she had just spat out, she knew it was gonna come out, she could feel it. She knew it was the wrong time but she couldn't keep it in anymore.  
"Claire..." Leon looked at her, knowing she could still see him in the slits in her hands. "I'm sorry..." He took a step closer to her, which resulted in her taking a step back.  
"Just don't!" She spluttered back, trying to form the words to say. "Just give me a minute to think..."  
"I didn't know..." He replied back, still moving slowly towards her.  
"How not? I left enough hints? I e-mailed, texted, wrote letters, phoned you I did everything I could...."  
"Claire I thought it was just because we where friends." Leon was now standing in front of her; she didn't seem to want to move now. She had said too much, she knew her life wouldn't be the same now; Leon wouldn't want to be a part of her world for much longer.  
"I had feelings for you too, but since you didn't take any of my hints I thought you didn't like me back..." He chuckled; he never expected to have this conversation with Claire. Before he could think anymore Claire chucked her arms around his neck and began to kiss his lips.  
"Leon just shut up and kiss me!" She sniffed and he kissed her back. At first gentle and caring, then more fiery and passionate. Licking the bottom of her lips with his tongue then darting inside her mouth. Leon then picked her up, while she threw her legs around his stomach without breaking the kiss. She pointed to a door which he took was the bedroom, and chucked her on the bed.  
"You sure you want to do this Claire?" He asked stopping the kiss for a second, he defiantly didn't want to take advantage of her, especially the state she was in.  
"Just shut up already!" Claire was already crawling on her knees towards the edge of the bed where he was leaning and began to pull his black top off his chest, revealing finally the body she had dreamed about for years.


	4. Chapter 4

"You didn't even start on the alcohol..." He chuckled while she was wrapped up tightly in his embrace.  
"Like, I'd need to do that." She smiled back at him staring into his perfect baby blue eyes. It must have been around about morning, because the sun shined its way through her bedroom window causing sun rays to appear on random parts of the bed sheets. It was almost a fairy tale she laughed to herself and began tracing with her fingers around his scars on his body. She looked so white next to his tanned skin; she hadn't noticed that till now. He shut his eyes, and blew on her face to try and get her attention, she was still busy caressing different scars around his abs.  
"You okay?" She asked innocently, looking back up at him.  
"Yeah and no..." He chuckled. "I'm just shitting myself for when your brother finds out about this." He laughed harder now which caused his stomach to cave in, amusing Claire also. It was hard for her to believe that Leon was her first time, she had been close many times with other boys but she couldn't go through with it, she never liked them as much as they liked her. And finally the man of her dreams, the one person she wouldn't of guessed in a millions years was here with her, naked and as comfortable as what she was feeling. A vibration from a phone awakened her from her thoughts, it must have been Leon's phone because he had already found it on the floor and had answered it by the time she looked back at him.  
"I'm busy right now..." He said seriously when he spoke back, "No, Angela I need to speak with you in private today, it's important..." He then hung up and sighed, the smiled fading again from his lips.  
"You're going back to her huh?" Claire said softly, she knew last night what she'd have to deal with now... So much for her fairytale.  
"You're kidding?" He chuckled harder, almost gasping for air.  
"What's so funny?" She huffed back poking his stomach.  
"You thinking I'd choose her over you..." When he said this Claire looked at him again, he was also blushing as madly as she was. She bent in and kissed him again on the lips. Knowing it was the best way to stop themselves feeling uncomfortable.  
"Really?" She asked after she stopped kissing him.  
"Yes. I'm gonna go meet her now and tell her." He hummed, "Another death list I'll be on." He smiled, while he gently picked Claire off his stomach and left her lying on the bed. "You should get some sleep, I'll be back soon." He smiled, lifting her chin up with his finger tips and planting another kiss on her lips. He then began to put his clothes on, Claire feel asleep almost instantly, she didn't even hear him leave.

When she woke it was by another kiss off Leon. It startled her at first because she was half asleep but when she noticed it was him she smiled. She felt whole again.  
"How'd she take it?" Claire asked curiously.  
"Better than I thought." He smiled, crouching over the bed, staring down at Claire with his puppy dog looks.  
"That's good then?" Claire yawned, and reached for his hand to hold.  
"Yup." He smiled and kissed her again on the lips.

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Hey I hope you enjoyed it! I did a lot, I'm writing one more Cleon at the moment, so expect that to be up shortly. It might be a sequel to this, I'm not sure yet. I'll see how it turns out first! Please leave nice reviews for meee!


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